Chapter 11 #3
“Been there, done that. Didn’t work out for us, did it?” She frowned and shrugged. “So, I’ll pass. You have to do everything by the book, and I’d much rather maim, you know? I mean, he would be what? A captive for you and this mythical council?”
“He would be a prisoner of war, yes.”
She tapped her foot on the floor as she glanced down for a moment. “Well, your prisoner of war is gone, so…”
I turned behind me and saw nothing but an empty hall. The small lights down the corridor still spinning. I cursed under my breath and placed my hands on my hips, before turning back to her.
“How did I not hear him?”
Dianna unfolded her arms, her long wavy hair bouncing against her shoulders as she shrugged. “You were really into your speech. Honestly, I didn’t want to interrupt you. Santiago is a creep and likes to spell his feet so he can sneak around. He’s a weasel like that.”
“Ah,” I said. A part of me missed this, and all of me missed her.
It felt so right being in her presence, hearing her voice, bantering, the way we had worked together, all of it.
Even if she denied our bond, I still felt it with razor-sharpness.
Gods, I missed it all, but my nostalgia was short-lived.
“Did you see him leave?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“And you let him.”
She nodded again. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
She blew out a slow breath, her cheeks puffing from the air as she strode forward.
“To be fair, I was going to come for you after I finished Santiago, but since you’re here now,” her voice dropped an octave, her eyes blazing a shade brighter, fangs lowering to grace the edge of her bottom lip as if the Ig’Morruthen inside of her had risen to the surface, “I have a better plan.”
Dianna lunged, swinging her sword over her head and toward me. I sidestepped, calling a blade from my ring and raising it to block her. Her attacks were hard and brutal, making even me grimace at the sheer force behind them. She was strong before, but now her strength was damn near terrifying.
I pushed away from her second blow, forcing her to step back.
It was only a second before she came forward again, so quickly I didn’t even see her bend the shadows around her.
One minute she was in front of me, the next behind me, just like when we fought in Zarall.
My sword swept behind me, knocking away her blade as she tried to slash my back.
I spun toward her, but she was gone again.
Pain shot across my shoulder blade. Another brush of air and fire slid along my side, followed by a deep sting and a rush of blood from my arm.
She was so fucking fast. I tried to block her, but another slash hit the back of my knee, dropping me.
Her heels clicked across the floor as she walked around me and stopped, facing me.
A smile graced her lips as she forced my chin up with the flat of her blade.
“Look at that. Gods do know how to bow.”
“If you wanted me on my knees, Dianna, all you had to do was ask. You know that.”
“Tempting.” She rocked the blade under my chin, forcing my head back. “You should grow the scruff back, though. I like the way it tickles.”
“Whatever you want.”
Her smile was all fangs and cold brutality. “Whatever I want?”
“Always.”
“I do want something from you.” She leaned a fraction closer, the tip of her blade pressing into my neck. “I need you to bleed.”
Faster than I could track, she grabbed me by my throat and lifted me with a predator’s ease, the small muscles in her arm bunching from my weight.
My feet barely touched the floor, which said a lot, given that I towered over her.
I didn’t have a chance to say anything before she drove her blade through my midsection, pinning me to the ship’s metal hull.
I groaned, reaching for the blade as she pushed it farther into my gut.
Her eyes stared into mine as she bit the side of her lip and leaned in close.
“Did I ever tell you how much I love the sounds you make?” Her nails dug into the side of my neck. “Make them again.”
Her voice was like liquid velvet across my skin, my soul, even with a jagged blade through my midsection.
She released my throat slowly, trailing her fingers along my neck, tracing my collarbone to caress my chest. Blood pooled and dripped from my wound, but now it was rushing toward another part of my body.
She heard my breathing hitch, and her grin spread, revealing canines sharper than daggers.
She sliced through my shirt with a single nail before dipping her head.
The sound I let out when her tongue flattened against my bare flesh was not one of pain.
She glanced up through thick lashes, and it was a look I had fantasized about since Chasin.
“There it is,” she said, following the trail of blood below the blade with her tongue.
She stepped back, my body going cold without her near. I watched as she pulled a small vial attached to a chain from between her breasts. She popped the lid off, spitting my blood inside. Desire morphed into worry as she filled it up, closed the top, and tucked it beneath her blouse once more.
I jerked forward, but to no avail. Whatever she had run through me and into the wall made it so I couldn’t budge. My toes barely touched the floor, and I couldn’t gain any leverage to pull it out.
“Hang tight.” She winked at me before disappearing in a cloud of black mist.